Using The Thermometer Of Emotions In Class – Being Parents

Working on emotional intelligence from the first years of life is fundamental for the good development of children. Both at home and at school, parents and teachers need to teach their children to identify, express and understand emotions and feelings.

Fortunately, there are many useful educational resources available today to achieve this goal, such as the Emotions Thermometer.

Do you want to know what this activity consists of and how to properly put it into practice in the classroom? In the following lines, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about this topic.

The thermometer of emotions, an ideal resource for teaching emotional intelligence

The Emotions Thermometer is a very simple and visual educational resource. Children, even the youngest, understand the similarity between the temperature indicated by a thermometer and the intensity of the emotions they themselves feel.

Thus, from the drawing of a thermometer divided into several sectors of different colors, children can identify and place on a simple scale their own mood and indicate whether they feel very happy, happy, calm, nervous, angry, sad or angry.

It is therefore an ideal educational and fun tool for working on basic emotions in class, especially with the following students:

• Kindergarten
• Early years of primary education
• Those who have difficulty communicating verbally and expressing and recognizing their own emotions and those of others, such as children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Steps for implementing this activity in the classroom

The first thing to do to properly perform the thermometer of emotions activity is to place the drawing of a thermometer, either on paper or cardboard, somewhere visible in the classroom and, next to it, a series of pictures or of photographs with different faces that clearly represent a series of emotional states.

The teacher should then explain to the students that this is a special thermometer, different from the one usually used to measure temperature, since it is used to measure the emotions that one feels throughout the period. school day. How? ‘Or’ What ? Very simple, by following the following steps:

1. At any time in the classroom, children can ask the teacher for permission to get up from their seats and go to the corner of the classroom where the Emotions Thermometer is located to express their feelings.
2. The child in question must choose the photo of the face that represents the emotion he is feeling at the time. He can choose between very happy, happy, calm, nervous, upset, sad or angry.
3. The pupil must then place this face on the thermometer of emotions; the highest temperatures are those which correspond to the most negative emotions.
4. The teacher, as long as he sees fit, should encourage the pupil to explain to the rest of his classmates why he is feeling this way.

Likewise, the teacher can also participate in the activity, leading by example and sharing with his students his own feelings and emotional states.

The advantages of using the emotion thermometer in the school context

Placing an emotion thermometer in the classroom has many advantages, as it allows children to:

• Identify and recognize your own emotional state.
• Think about the origin of this emotional state.
• Regulate and control your emotions.
• Understand the emotions and feelings of others.
• Actively listen to the experiences of others.
• Develop empathy.
• Understand that emotional state is variable and therefore changes throughout the day.

• Expand emotional vocabulary.

In summary, with this simple exercise, you can stimulate your children’s interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence, so that they grow up aware of the importance of expressing and understanding their own emotions and those of others. This is considered fundamental to achieve the correct integral development of children.